


An Ogre's Tale

by Sand_wolf579



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Basically it's the story of Shrek with Arrowverse characters, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-29 00:59:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12619524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sand_wolf579/pseuds/Sand_wolf579
Summary: *Shrek AU*: Mick was an ogre, he had known ever since he was a child that creatures like him didn't find true happiness. Ray was a prince, but he was under a terrible curse that could only be broken by true love's kiss. Both of them thought they wanted completely different things in life, and neither of them ever thought that they would find happiness with each other.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on fanfiction.net

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this insanity is what happens when you think about Mick or Ray while listening to the soundtrack of Shrek the Musical. As weird as it is, the idea fits strangely well, so I'm going to write it. So, welcome to my story that is the story of Shrek with Arrowverse characters. This will be drawing more inspiration from the musical than the movie though. I mean, they're basically the same, but I think the musical does a better job at portraying the emotions of the characters, so that's what we're going for.
> 
> Disclaimer. By the way, I don't own either Shrek or anything from the Arrowverse. I'm just writing down my crazy idea.

Like many children, Mick grew up on fairy tale stories. His parents were pretty insistent that he learn as many of them as he possibly could. Every night Mick would be told story after story about knights, princesses, magic, adventure, happiness, and, most of all, true love. Every single story ended the exact same way;

'And they all lived happily ever after.'

What the stories don't specifically say though was what Mick's parents had tried to drill into his head.

'And, except for the villains, they all lived happily ever after.'

Maybe all the other kids understood that it was implied that villains didn't get happy endings, but Mick didn't. He had needed it to be explained to him multiple times. And then his parents would spend even longer telling him what exactly counted as a villain.

Basically though, a villain was anybody who wasn't a hero, and everybody knew that in these stories the hero was always very beautiful or extremely handsome. The villains were always the ugly ones. The monsters. The people who just didn't fit in.

Mick had once asked his parents why things were that way, and their answer had stuck with him his entire life.

"People like things that are beautiful, and they hate things that aren't."

It was a tough lesson to learn. Especially for a seven-year old ogre who already knew he would never be beautiful.

That was why his parents had taught him so many fairy tales. They wanted to make sure that he knew what to expect out of life. People and beautiful things get happy endings. Creatures and anything that was ugly did not. They wanted him to learn this at an early age so that he wouldn't get his hopes up. He wasn't going to get a happily ever after, and that was something he was just going to have to live with.

The older he got the more he despised listening to fairy tales. They all sounded the exact same to him, in the sense that they were all about something that he would never have. But his parents kept on telling him the stories. Stories about how he would never be happy. About how he was evil. About how he was going to die miserable and alone at a young age.

Mick hated the stories so much that he started looking for anything to drown them out. It didn't really take him all that long to find something. Every time his father told him a story he would light a single candle in the dark house, which cast an eerie glow. Mick knew that his father did this for dramatic effect, but he just saw it as a distraction.

Mick would hear the words that his father was saying, but he wasn't paying attention to them. He was too busy being drawn to the small flame. The fire and light it gave off flickered in a beautiful and unnatural way that Mick was just entranced by. He could watch the flame dance for hours, and considering how long his father's stories usually were, he normally did.

Mick was so drawn in by the flickering flame that just watching it every other night, which was when his dad would tell his stories, wasn't good enough. Mick needed to see more fire. So after his parents were in bed asleep Mick got into the habit of grabbing one of his father's candle's, lighting it, and watch it until it burned out. And then he would just get another candle.

One night though things went wrong. Mick snuck through the small house, grabbed the candle, lit it...and then something happened. Mick still wasn't entirely sure what. Suddenly the flame wasn't just on the candle, but on the table as well, and then on the floor. It was really big, really hot, and really dangerous. As much as Mick loved fire, he found the whole thing beautiful. At the same time though, that night was the first time that Mick every truly felt afraid of fire.

Fearing for his life Mick had run out of the house. He hadn't waken up his parents. He didn't try to put out the flames. He just ran outside until he was a safe distance from the house. He then sat down on the damp grass and watched as his home burned down. By morning there was nothing left.

Mick was ten when this had happened.

A part of him felt like a phoenix, reborn out of the ashes of a fire. Another part of him just felt scared and horrified about what had happened. What he had done. That day Mick realized that maybe his parent's stories were right. Maybe he really was an evil villain who shouldn't live near anybody else.

He was scared of what he could do to other people, and absolutely terrified of what other people might do to him. All the stories made it clear that evil deeds, like burning your home to the ground with your family still inside, were to be punished. And Mick really didn't want to be punished.

So he ran.

He didn't have a place to go. He didn't even have an idea in mind. He just ran. Every day he struggled just to survive. Every night he longed for the warmth of a fire, but he was too scared to light one, for fear of accidentally burning his shelter down to the ground or alerting others to his location.

Mick wandered a lot for those first couple of months. Never feeling safe enough in any given location to stay there for more than a night or two. It was also impossibly hard to find any shelter whatsoever from the weather and natural chill of the night. And everywhere he went there was always people nearby, and he really, really didn't want to have to deal with humanity.

So he just kept on going. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he believed that he would know it when he found it.

After about a month of just wandering around, barely making it by, Mick found himself at an enchanted part of the forest. He considered turning back the other way. There weren't any humans near this part of the forest, he would be safe from them (and they would be safe from him). On the downside though, he couldn't exactly sneak into their villages if he was living so far away from them.

He had a choice to make. Live near a ready supply of food, but never feel safe because everybody around hated and feared him. Or live away from most every other creature but run the risk of starving to death.

It was actually a much easier decision to make than Mick had thought it would be. Without even thinking on it for a minute Mick continued on into the enchanted part of the forest and he never looked back.

This part of the forest was unlike anything Mick had ever seen before. It was almost as though the woods themselves were alive. He found himself fighting for his life more often against a bunch of plants than he did against mobs of people. It was easier to fight plants though, so he was okay with it.

After living in the forest for a few weeks the wildlife grew used to his presence. At least, he assumed it did, because the plants weren't trying to eat him anymore. Either way, things got much easier from that point on.

Shortly after the forest starting working with him instead of against him Mick finally found a place to call home. It was a fire swamp. There really was no other way to describe it. The place was surrounded by murky water that was actually practically boiling. Occasionally small bursts of hot steam and water would come shooting up out of the ground, like geysers. And all the plants that grew in this little area were extremely flammable.

Mick instantly fell in love with the place. He would spend night after night there before the paranoia that always came when he stayed in one location for too long would hit him. Mick would leave for a few days, and then somehow find his way back. This happened a couple of times, with Mick always staying for longer and longer the more he returned. Without him even realizing it Mick had made the place his permanent home.

And he was strangely okay with that.

Once Mick had accepted that he didn't need to be on the run anymore he actually started to settle down. He had learned how to live off the land, and no human would dare to wander this far into the forest. He was as safe out here as he knew he was ever going to get. Safe...but also completely alone.

He tried not to think about that though, because solitude was just a price he was going to have to pay if he wanted a chance to even be content with life. He knew that he never was going to be completely happy, and he was learning to be okay with it. Besides, in the few interactions with humans that he had had he had seen what came with true happiness. Love, friendship, cuddles, and everything else that he would never have.

And he was starting to think that he didn't want that stuff anyways. Being on his own worked pretty well for him, and he wasn't about to give up the stability he had found to have a chance at something that he knew could never be his.

It wasn't a happy life, but it was his, and he was (mostly) just fine with it.

Ray had grown up begging to hear fairy tale stories. He wanted to hear all of them. He wanted to hear about all of the happily ever afters. He wanted to hear about all of the examples of true love conquering all and breaking curses. Stories where good always got rewarded and evil always got punished.

Even with all the times he begged his parents to tell him the stories, it wasn't until he was seven did he even realize that his life was practically a fairy tale story just waiting to happen.

Ray had a secret, one that only his family was familiar with. To the outside world he was just Prince Raymond. The one who wasn't born to inherit the throne, but was still adored by all. He was just a child though, so nobody thought twice about the strange fact that he had never been seen at night.

His parents had forbidden Ray from even leaving his room once the sun had set, because they couldn't let anybody know their terrible secret. Ray was just a sweet, innocent child during the day. At night though he turned into something completely different.

A creature.

Ray was cursed. Had been from the moment he was born. He was a normal human during the day, but once the sun set he became an ogre.

Ray had always been a very naive child. He hadn't realized that not everybody turned into something else at night. He didn't even understand that ogres were beings that people feared and hated. To him it was just something that happened. It wasn't until Ray was eight years old did he even realize that turning into an ogre was a very, very bad thing.

A visiting Lord and Lady were staying at the castle, and they had brought their young son, Nathaniel, with them. Nate and Ray were just about the same age, and they immediately became friends. They played all day, until Ray's parents dragged him back to his room for the night.

For the first time Ray realized just how much he hated being locked in his room every night. He hated not having a say in what he could do. He hated that he couldn't keep on playing with his friend. And that night Ray realized that he hated how his parents locked him up as though they were ashamed of him and what he became. He always had hated it, even if he never realized it.

Upset and tired of being controlled all the time Ray snuck out of his room. The door was locked from the outside, to keep Ray in even more than it was to keep others out, so he climbed out the window. It was a little hard, and very scary, but Ray just couldn't stay in that room anymore.

Somehow Ray was able to climb his way up to the balcony of the room above his. The castle was so big that he didn't know for sure if this was somebody's room, or one of their many empty ones, but he didn't really think it mattered. He just planned on going into the room and accessing the rest of the castle that way. Easy.

Ray didn't really stop to think that there might be somebody in the room already, and that they might want to stop him in his tracks.

"Raymond?" A harsh and scared sounding voice was what greeted the boy the second he had crept into the room. Ray jumped in fright and turned towards the bed where the voice had come from. He relaxed when he saw that it was just his brother. Sydney on the other hand didn't relax when he saw Ray. He was tense and had curled himself up at the far side of the bed, almost like he was trying to get as far away from Ray as possible. There was a look of fear in Sydney's eyes, which just confused Ray. Was his brother...afraid of him?

"Raymond, what are you doing here?" Sydney asked in a whispered tone, as though he was worried that somebody would hear them. "You know you're supposed to be in your room."

"Yeah, but I-I wanted to play with Nate some more." Ray said, suddenly feeling unsure about his whole plan.

"What?!" Sydney's eyes went very wide. "You can't! Nobody else can see you when you're...when you're…"

"An ogre?" Ray offered innocently. He knew that was what he was at the moment. Why was Sydney making such a big deal about it.

"Yes, that." Sydney shuddered. "Nate can't know that you turn into...that. Nobody can."

"Why not?" Ray asked for the first time in his life.

"Because it's not normal!" Sydney waved his arms out to emphasise his point. "Prince's aren't supposed to turn into monsters!"

Ray flinched and took a step back. His eyes glistened with tears. Was that what his brother thought he was? A monster? Was that what his parents thought too?

Sydney's eyes softened when he saw that his brother was starting to cry. "Hey, I didn't...Look, why don't I go get mom and dad? They always know what to do." Sydney crawled off the bed and for a moment it seemed like he was about to approach Ray, to comfort him. The moment passed though. "Just...try to keep out of sight when I'm gone, okay? I'll be back soon."

Sydney didn't come back with their parents until morning, well after Ray had already turned back into a little boy. Ray had spent the night alone, curled up under his brother's bed, wondering if Sydney hated him, and if Nate would too if he knew the truth. Even after the sun came up and he turned back to normal Ray still didn't come out from under the bed. He only came out when Sydney grabbed his arms and pulled him out, with a little bit of help from their dad.

The second that he was out from under the bed Ray felt the tears that he had been holding in all night start falling. He just started crying, and he didn't even fully understand why. His mother immediately drew him close and held him. She stroked his hair and whispered loving nonsense to him until he calmed down.

His parents then sat him down on Sydney's bed and talked with him. They didn't scold Ray about how he had snuck out. They just told him that it was dangerous for him to be seen by others when he was an ogre. His parents told him that normal people would judge him, and might even hate him if they knew what he was.

Ray didn't want people to hate him. He had tearfully asked if there was any way to break the curse. His parents said that true love would break the curse, which made Ray feel better. He may not know anything about true love, but he did know a lot about fairy tales, and if so many other people could find true love then why couldn't he?

His parents then gave him some news that he wasn't as excited about. They were going to send him away. His parents assured him that they weren't going to do it because they wanted to, or because they hated him. They told him they were just thinking of his safety. That if he lived somewhere else, far away from other people, then he wouldn't have to worry about someone finding out about his secret. Nobody would try to hurt him.

Of course, Ray was too young at that time to wonder how he could possibly find true love to break the curse if he was locked away in a tower for his whole life? He trusted his parents, and he knew that they had his best interest at heart, even if it sometimes didn't feel like it.

So Ray was sent far away from his family's castle and their kingdom. He was sent to live in a tower instead, guarded by a mysterious boy with a magical and deadly flute. Ray's parents had sent his fairy tale book collection with him, and every day he would read the stories and be filled with hope that someday his knight would shining armor would come and break the curse, and they would live happily ever after.

Even as the days and weeks passed Ray didn't give up hope. He clung to his belief in true love and told himself 'it's going to happen today.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can probably tell, this is going to be an atomwave story. What can I say? They're probably my favorite Arrowverse pairing, and I'm not even sure when I started shipping them. All I know is that I started watching the second season and suddenly every little moment between the two of them got me excited. So, yeah, I ship them pretty hard, but I know that not everybody does. If these two is not your type of thing, then feel free to not continue to read the story. Nobody's forcing you to stay.


	2. Chapter 2

Mick spent the next twenty years of his life just doing what he could to be content. He lived completely by himself and, for the most part, undisturbed. Every once and awhile a mob or hunting group would wander into the enchanted forest to try to rid themselves of whatever monster they thought was terrorizing their village. Mick always scared them away though, all it took was just a little bit of maiming.

Maybe it wasn't smart to threaten or hurt the humans, but considering they were hunting for creatures like him Mick felt like he was justified. He didn't really see the harm in having some fun messing with the humans every once and awhile if they were just going to hate and fear him anyways.

Mick's life became predictable, and almost mundane. It was boring, but it was also safe, and that was what was most important.

He spent most of his time in his fire swamp. He never strayed far from his home. Sometimes though he had no choice but to leave because, as shocking as it sounded, not much food grew in a fire swamp.

Whenever Mick needed food he would leave the security of his home and went to the more fruitful parts of the forest. It had taken him years to find what food was edible and free of magic, but he was able to live off the land fairly well. It was just a shame and a major pain in the butt that it always took Mick a couple of weeks to find enough food around the forest to last him for a couple of months.

Mick's search for food always took him to the edge of the enchanted forest and into the regular forest, because that was where the safe food was. He hated wandering into that area, but there were some perks to it. The regular, non-magical forest was right by the human villages. Mick may not mind eating weeds, roots, and rodents, but even an ogre needed something sweet every once and awhile. And Mick just couldn't resist the occasional cake or cream pie from a bakery.

Mick was always especially careful whenever he went anywhere near humans. He couldn't risk being caught, or even seen. He wasn't naturally good at recognizing emotions, but he could definitely tell when humans were scared or on edge. Maybe it was just something that came with being something that struck fear in people's hearts.

Normally the humans weren't a problem. Sometimes Mick had to extra careful around the villages because there had been some slight threat or attack by some magical creature and the humans were still on edge. This time around though something seemed off. The humans were all even more paranoid than they usually were, though they also seemed pretty excited about whatever it was.

Mick's curiosity got the better of his survival instincts (this happened surprisingly more often then he would have liked) and he crept a little closer to get a better look.

Mick quickly found what was causing the changes. All over the village, and in the forest as well, there were captured magical creatures. Animals that probably were the kind the talked, fairies, imps, monsters, and even seemingly ordinary people that must've been cursed in one way or another. They were all imprisoned.

Mick grew tense when he saw this. Something big was going on, and he didn't like it one bit. It wasn't like he cared what happened to any of these guys, all creatures have to look out for themselves, after all, but seeing so many captured creatures so close to his home was really unnerving.

Mick needed to get back home. He hated to cut his little scavenging trip short by a couple of days, but he wasn't left with much of a choice. These woods weren't safe, not with all these humans and magical creatures crawling around. Mick would be much safer if he was back at his fire swamp, where he was sure no humans would dare to go.

Mick shouldered the bag of stuff that he had gotten from the village. He quickly made his way back to where he had been temporarily camping out while he got more food. There wasn't as much as he would like, meaning he would have to have one of these trips again a month or two sooner than he normally would, but it would have to do.

Mick ran back to his swamp, though he made sure to avoid the humans and creatures that seemed to be in these woods. It was only when he got back to the enchanted part of the forest did he finally slow down. He had learned years ago that it wasn't a smart idea to rush through magical areas unless you are completely and totally familiar with them, and Mick just wasn't. The forest was huge, and it seemed to change every time Mick wandered out of his swamp.

He had almost gotten back to his fire swamp when he heard a roar that was so loud and deep that it seemed like it shook the earth. Mick froze in his tracks. That definitely wasn't the roar of an ogre. Mick's kind roared to intimidate. This sounded way too emotional. Just hearing it, even at this distance, made Mick's own eyes tear up slightly, and ogre's never cried.

Mick only knew of one creature who had magic so deep that it could influence emotions and thoughts without even trying.

But what the hell was a dragon doing in this part of the world?

Mick wiped away any traces of tears and scowled. Magic or not he already hated the dragon for manipulating his emotions like this. Mick continued onward towards his home. His scowl deepened when, as he got closer, he he heard the mutterings and growls of creatures that definitely didn't belong in a fire swamp.

Apparently he wasn't the only one who had found that a fire swamp was a safe place from humans when they were in a hunting mood. Well, fantastic, if they liked his fire swamp so much, then maybe they should go out and find their own, because this one was his. And ogre's really weren't keen on sharing.

Mick stomped onto his swampy property and glared at every creature he passed, and there were a lot of them. Most of them, he was pleased to see, cowered at the sight of him. He frowned when that was all they did. Why weren't they running away? Everybody ran away from him.

"Don't worry, you're not losing your touch." A sly and cool voice that was just resonating with magic said. Mick clenched his teeth and looked up to see the dragon curled up on the roof of his house. "They're still scared of you...but right now they're scared of the humans more."

"Why?" Mick asked, because even with all of their mobs and weapons, humans were still the most pathetic, non-threatening creatures there were. They only ever acted on fear. Why should Mick be afraid of something that was only threatening him because they were afraid of him.

The dragon stared Mick down for a bit, searching his eyes for something. Whatever he had been looking for he must have found it because the dragon then answered. "There is a new law being passed in this land. Magical creatures aren't allowed in the kingdom anymore...at all.

"So, what? You're all hiding out in my swamp?" Mick glared at the dragon, who glared so coldly back at him that he felt shivers run down his spine.

"You think I'm here by choice?" The dragon growled and lifted its head. It spread its wings out in agitation, but quickly drew them back in with a harsh hiss. Mick had only seen its wings for a second, but he would have to be blind to miss the gaping holes. The dragon's wings had been injured, and recently too by the looks of it. Mick didn't consider himself an expert on dragon anatomy, but even he knew that nobody could fly with wings like that.

The dragon was grounded. Possibly forever.

"Don't mind him." A patronizing female voice said. Mick turned to see a blonde girl looking at him with mischievous eyes. She looked entirely human, but Mick knew that she wasn't one. "He's just grumpy because he can't handle the heat." She glanced challengingly up at the dragon, who glared at her.

"Don't act as though you're happy to be here, fairy." The dragon growled. "Your kind don't like fire any more than mine do."

The girl glared harshly at the dragon, and Mick knew that she wasn't just some dainty little pixie. The girl was dangerous. "I'm a fae, not a fairy." She snapped. With her turned towards the dragon Mick got a good view of her back, which was bare. Not only was it not covered by clothing, but she was also wingless. Two bloody stubs on her back showed that she should have wings, but, like the dragon, she had been grounded.

It looked like the humans were getting extremely bold with their hatred towards magical creatures.

"Alright, look, I don't care what you guys are," Mick pulled the fairy, fae, whatever, back. He looked up at the dragon. "The only thing I care about is that you guys are in my swamp, and I want you gone now!"

Before Mick could even blink the dragon had bounded off of the roof and shoved him to the ground. Mick tried to push himself up, but the dragon shoved him back down effortlessly. The creature leaned forward and snarled at Mick harshly.

"Get this through your thick skull, ogre." The dragon's eyes were the color of ice, and Mick couldn't bring himself to look away. Damn manipulative dragon magic. "I do not want to be here. I would leave if I could, but I can't."

"Why not?" Mick choked out, which was difficult to do with a talon at his neck.

"I cannot fly." The dragon growled. "And the humans have used dark magic on me. I cannot change my form, and I can only use the most basic of my own magic."

"So what?" Mick asked. "Why don't you just stomp over any humans who try to find you?"

"Because he's outnumbered." The fae pointed out. "It doesn't matter how big he is, the humans will overpower him by sheer number."

"So you're not even going to try?" Mick asked.

"We were warned not to." The fae said, her voice becoming the slightest bit desperate and sad. "I don't know about the dragon, but they told me that if they found me trying to leave, they would assume that I had someone that I needed to get back to."

"They would torture us for information on where the rest of our kin are." The dragon said. "The only reason I'm in this damn kingdom is because my sire would have harmed my kin if I didn't. I wouldn't let him hurt her, and I won't let any humans find out where she is either."

"Same here." The fae said.

Mick frowned. The dragon and the fae considered themselves trapped because, even though they were both strong enough to overpower any human who came their way, they had relatives that they cared about.

It was at times like these that Mick was actually glad that he had burned his only family to the ground all those years ago. Nobody could use those he cared about against him, because he cared about nobody.

"Alright, so I get why you can't defy the humans." Mick still thought that it was cowardly, but he wasn't about to tell that to the dragon who had a talon at his neck. "But why do you have to be in my swamp?"

"Because it's where the humans sent us." The fae shrugged.

The dragon growled and waved its tail in irritation. "It's their way of weakening us. Faes, pixies, nature spirits, enchanted animals, and, well, ice dragons, don't do well with fire."

"Yeah, well, I do." Mick glared at the dragon. "This is my home, and I don't want a bunch of freaks living here."

"Look, our wings are tied." The dragon's eyes narrowed as it planned. "If you want us out of your home, you'll have to bring it up with the humans yourself."

"Alright, I will." Mick declared.

The dragon let out a low chuckle and finally got off of Mick's chest. "I would love to see you try."

"And you will, because I'm not letting you guys stay here." Mick said. He got back to his feet and rubbed a hand over his neck, which was bleeding slightly.

The dragon's eyes narrowed at him again. "You're either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid." The dragon crawled back onto the roof and stared down at Mick. "If you really are serious about this, the human you will want to talk to is Lord Nathaniel. He's the one who is in charge of all of this."

"Fine." Mick growled. He adjusted the grip on his pack and turned around to leave. He would talk to this Lord Nathaniel. He would get this creatures out of his swamp, and he would get his home back.

"Good luck!" The fae called out as he left. She then whispered in a voice that was still loud enough for Mick to hear. "Do you think he'll actually do it?"

"He'll certainly try." The dragon said in a low voice. "But there are mobs and hunters everywhere. He won't make it out of the forest."

With that happy thought, Mick started his journey to get his life back to the way that it was before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, just in case none of you figured it out, Sara is the fae, and Leonard is the ice dragon. As far as the story of Shrek goes, Sara would basically be Gingy, and Leonard would be Pinocchio. If you're wondering why those two, well, I don't blame you. Basically, I'm taking a lot of my Shrek inspiration from the musical, and in that version Pinocchio is probably the one fairy tale creature who has resigned himself to his fate. That they're probably just not going to get a happily ever after, and if they do get one it would be because somebody else has saved them. If you replace waiting for somebody to save them with not believing that there is such a thing as a happily ever after, then it kinda seems much more like Leonard. Or, at least, I think so.
> 
> And as for Sara, well, in the musical Gingy is the one to convince the magical creatures that they shouldn't have to wait for somebody to save them and if they want to change their fates than they should be the ones to be doing something about it, and that is definitely Sara. Or, you know, if you don't really get it, just look at it as Sara being a fae and Leonard being a dragon with no connections with the characters from Shrek.


	3. Chapter 3

Mick was absolutely fuming. The fire swamp was his home, and now because of some dumb Lord guy it was being invaded by a bunch of freaks who were too sentimental to stand up for themselves. Now he had to talk to this Lord Nathaniel and convince him to send the freaks somewhere else. He didn't really care what happened to them, he just wanted them away from him.

Why was it that the world didn't want him around at all, and yet he had to fight so hard to be left alone?

And, just to make matters worse, Mick had no idea where he was going.

He had been living in the fire swamp for twenty years. He only left when he absolutely had to. His only contact with humans during that time had been during his hunts for food, and even then he only went as far as the villages right next to the woods. Mick may not be very knowledgeable about the ways of humans, but he was pretty sure that a Lord would not live in a place like that.

The only thing Mick could think of to figure out where to find the guy was by asking somebody, and he was pretty sure that the humans wouldn't respond very well to him doing that.

Mick had no idea what he was doing, but he kept walking anyways. No matter what plan he came up with he would have to get out of the woods first. He would probably be able to think of something on the way through, and if he didn't...well, he was always much better at acting impulsively than with a plan anyways.

Mick had almost reached the edge of the regular woods when he heard some sort of ruckus going on. Before he could even think of what the noise could mean a small figure dashed swiftly out of the bushes next to him. It looked like just a normal, scrawny human, but something looked off about him.

The figure stopped to catch his breath for a moment, but he still seemed fidgety and nervous about something. Mick couldn't exactly blame him, considering the shouting and rustling that he had heard earlier was getting louder and coming this way.

"You bein' followed?" Mick asked. The figure jumped and turned towards him with wide eyes, as though he hadn't even know he was there at all, which was ridiculous. How could someone have missed him? To Mick's surprise and shock the scrawny whoever it was actually breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him.

"Oh, geeze, don't scare me like that." The kid let out a laugh. "For a second there I thought you were a human."

Mick honestly had no words for that. Was this kid really relieved that he had run into an ogre instead of a human? Mick opened his mouth to ask the kid what his damage was when a group of angry looking humans came stumbling out of the bushes where the kid had come from. The kid yelped and dove behind Mick, which caused him to scowl. Mick had a hard enough time taking care of himself. He was not about to become a shield for some sniveling little coward.

The humans froze and cowered slightly when they caught sight of Mick, which made him feel pleased with himself. At least some creatures still had the sense to be afraid of an ogre. One of the humans, who must have been particularly brave, stepped forward.

"Ogre," The man addressed him, and even though he was obviously trying very hard to sound brave, Mick could still hear the way his voice cracked. The man cleared his throat. "We're not here for you. Hand the rodent to us and you can go on your way."

"Rodent?" Mick frowned and looked back at the kid. He still looked mostly like a normal human, except now that Mick was looking carefully he saw that there were two roundish things that were just sticking out the top of his head. At first Mick had assumed that they were just his hair, but after a closer look he could see that they looked more like ears. And...wait a second, was that a tail?

Great, so he was dealing with a rat person. Half animal people always unnerved Mick because he was never sure whether they were an animal in a mostly human body, or a human with some animal appearances.

Mick hadn't been very fond of the kid before, and now he knew that he didn't like him. Still, a half human was better than full humans any day. Besides, if the humans got their hands on the rodent kid they might send him off to Mick's swamp, and he really didn't want anybody else messing up his home.

"I have a better idea." Mick growled as he took a step towards the humans. Most of them stumbled back away from him, though a couple did try to stand their ground. "You humans have found me in a very bad mood, so if you don't want to get torn limb from limb, you should leave...now!" Mick roared this last part out, and it was enough to make the humans stumble over themselves in their rush to get away. The cowards. As tough as humans tried to pretend they were, they would always run at the first sign of danger.

"Wow." Mick's satisfaction at seeing the humans flee from him disappeared when he heard the kid. Mick turned and glared in annoyance at the rat person, who stared right back at him with wide, awestruck eyes. "That was amazing! You just scared them away without even trying."

"I'm an ogre. It's what I do." Mick muttered. He adjusted the strap of his bag and started to continue on his way. To his annoyance the kid scrambled after him.

"Yeah, but you weren't scared of them at all." The kid said, as though that should be a big deal. "I've never met a creature who wasn't afraid of humans."

"Well, now you have." Mick growled. "Now beat it, kid."

"Hey, I'm not a kid." The rat person huffed and pouted. And while it may be true that he was technically not a child anymore, he certainly acted like one, which was why Mick called him 'kid'. "My name's Axel."

"Huh." That was a unique name. Mick frowned, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "Mick." He said, and he instantly regretted it when Axel's eyes brightened, as though Mick sharing his name meant that he was giving the kid permission to follow him.

"Where're ya going, Mick?" Axel asked as he continued following him. "You're close to human territory."

"I know." Mick said. "That's where I'm going."

"Oh." Axel's eyes widened with excitement. "Are you going to terrorize a village? Can I join you?"

"No, I'm not terrorizing a village." Mick growled. "I'm going to talk to Lord Nathaniel...just as soon as I can find the guy."

"Lord Nathaniel?" Axel grinned. "Hey, I know where that guy lives." Mick stopped in his tracks and eyes him in surprise.

"Really?" Mick raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, I was just there." Axel smirked mischievously. "I paid him a little visit when I heard what he was doing to creatures." By the tone of Axel's voice, Mick could tell that whatever the mischievous little rat had done during his 'visit', it hadn't been enjoyable for the lord. It was probably also why the humans had been after him.

"Where does he live?" Mick asked. It was about as polite as he would ever be when asking for directions.

Axel frowned slightly at the question. "Uh...I'm not all that good at giving directions." The kid's face brightened again in an instant. "I remember how to get there though. I can show you."

Mick scowled, because he really didn't want the kid to take him to wherever he needed to go. He was already annoyed by the rodent, and he had only known him for five minutes. He didn't think he could handle a long journey with him. "How far away is it?" He asked anyways, because he knew that if he wanted to find the Lord, then Axel was probably his best choice.

"Just a day's journey from here." Axel grinned. "I'll lead the way, and you can scare away any humans who try to bother us. We'll be a great team."

"We're not a team." Mick glared at the kid. "You're taking me where I need to go, and then you're gone."

"Heh, right." The kid smirked. "If I'm helping you out, you gotta give me something in return. That's how it works."

"How about if you take me there then I won't eat you?" Mick snarled. Axel didn't even seemed concerned by his threat.

"You wouldn't eat me." Axel said confidently, which really bugged Mick, because he knew the kid was probably right. He may eat rodents for breakfast, but Mick had always been fond of rats. Unless he was starving to death or the kid was just driving him insane with all of his talking, Mick probably wouldn't eat the rat person.

"Fine, I'll keep the human's off your tail until we get back." Mick scowled and Axel grinned broadly.

"That's all I'm asking for." Axel began walking again and Mick reluctantly followed after him. About two seconds after they started Axel began to shoot his mouth off again. It was like the kid didn't know how to survive without talking. Mick tried to tone him out, but Axel's voice was impossible to ignore.

Mick had the feeling that this was going to be a very, very long day.

In the eyes of the world Nathaniel was a lord. A nobleman. Somebody who was born into a position of power and nobility. Respect was his birthright, so that was what he was given.

In his own mind though, Nate saw himself as a historian more than anything else.

As a child he wasn't allowed to do things that normal children could. He was a noble, which meant that he had a reputation to uphold, even though back then it was the reputation of his parents. He couldn't run around and play with the other children, because somehow it would taint his family's image. Add in the fact that Nate had a tendency to get injured easily so his parents, who were extremely protective of him, all but banned him from even going outside, and Nate had a very lonely childhood.

Nate spent much of his time in his family's library. He started off by reading fairy tales and children's books, but he quickly grew bored of them. He didn't see how make believe stories could be relevant in his life. So it wasn't long before Nate moved on to history books, because while he didn't see what you could learn from a fictional story, he believed that you could learn everything from the past.

Nate read every history book he could get his hands on, which was quite a lot, and he soon began to notice a pattern. Many of the history books focused on the wars and disasters that had plagued the world. This in and of itself wasn't all that odd, but then Nate began to see a connection between all of these seemingly unrelated events.

There was one war with a neighboring kingdom which had been started because one or both of the kings had been put under a spell of rage by a bored witch. Then there were the out of season blizzards or heatwaves that devastated the kingdom because dragon's were migrating over the area. And then there were the numerous times where all the livestock in the kingdom had gone missing overnight because of werewolves and other such creatures.

War. Famine. Seemingly 'natural' disasters. Hordes of children who went missing overnight. Whole villages that had been massacred. All of these things, and more, were caused by the same thing.

Magic.

Whether it was because of a spell or a creature, magic was the cause of so many of their kingdom's problems. The more Nate searched through history books the more he knew it to be true. Magic caused more problems than it brought help, and sooner or later Nate knew that it would be the cause of the fall of their kingdom.

They may have been able to survive all of the magic brought disasters, but Nate knew that if they didn't deal with the root of the problem than it would end up destroying them all someday, and he couldn't let that happen.

So when Nate grew older and actually became a Lord of the land, the first thing he did was figure out how to deal with this magic problem that they had. It took him years to be able to actually make some real progress, but, finally, it was happening.

All creatures, humans, or items that were associated with magic were being tracked down and sent to places where they couldn't do as much harm.

Ray knew better than to hope that this would solve all of their magic problems, but it was a start. At the very least it would make it so they could know what exactly they were up against. And, by sending the creatures and people to places where their magic would be weakened, he decreased the chances of there being problems in the future. Nate wasn't stupid enough to think this was a permanent solution, but it would have to do until he had more resources at his disposal.

Speaking of which.

"Well, Lord Nathaniel, it looks like you've finally got your pet project off the ground." Nate grinned when he heard the familiar voice. He turned and gave a slight bow to the man standing in the doorway.

"Prince Sydney." Nate greeted him respectfully. "I'm glad you could come."

"Of course." Sydney nodded to him and entered the room, closing the door behind him. "I wanted to see for myself just how your work is going." Sydney had always been supportive of Nate's idea to separate the magic from the normal in the kingdom. Because he was the sovereign prince of the realm, he couldn't be directly involved with such matters, or else the magical beings might revolt because, technically, he was their prince as well. Still, he offered what support that he could.

"It's going better than I could have expected." Nate said. "I have the people on my side." He offered a small reward for the reporting of and capture, but not harming of, anything or anybody magical. The people were cooperating more than he ever could have hoped. Most everybody was afraid of magic and what it could do, and now that he was giving them a chance to do something about it they were jumping at the opportunity.

Still, there was only so much that the citizens could do. "We'll be able to do more with royal backing." Nate eyed Sydney meaningfully. He was still just a lord. He may be in a position of power, but it wasn't nearly enough.

"I can't help you." Sydney sighed. "You know this."

"I do." Nate admitted, though he was still extremely disappointed. Suddenly an insane and probably impossible idea came to his mind. "What about your brother?"

Sydney blinked, completely caught off guard. "My brother?"

"Yeah. Ray." Nate was sure that was his name. He had only met the younger prince once about twenty years ago, but he hadn't ever forgotten him. Ray was probably the only friend that Nate had ever had as a kid. "He could help me with this, couldn't he?" Even though Ray was a prince of the realm, he wasn't the one who was destined to be king. He didn't have to hold back the way that Sydney did.

"Nate, Ray's gone." Sydney said in a quiet and warning voice that the royals had a tendency to use whenever the younger son was mentioned.

"But he's not dead, is he?" Nate asked. Sydney didn't even hesitate before shaking his head. He knew for a fact that Ray wasn't dead, which meant that he hadn't been kidnapped or gone missing. He was just gone, and even though only the royals knew where he was, all the noblemen were aware that he had been sent away for a reason. "What if someone were to go get Ray and bring him back?" Nate suggested.

Sydney sighed. "We've been over this," He said in a tired voice, and they had. Nate had asked about Ray and the possibility of him coming home at least a dozen times in the past. "Ray can't come back."

"Why not?" Nate asked, suddenly feeling like a little kid who just wanted to see his friend again.

"...A monster's keeping him where he is." Sydney said after a moment. "If the creature is taken care of, he'll come back."

Nate was not a compulsive person. He planned things out carefully before taking any action. Hearing Sydney's words about a monster, a magical creature, which was exactly the kind of thing that he was trying to get rid of in the first place, just made something within Nate say the first thing that came to his mind.

"What if I go take care of the creature and bring Ray back?" Nate asked. Sydney paused and eyed him skeptically.

"You?" Sydney sounded so shocked and filled with disbelief that Nate wondered whether he should be offended. Sydney then blinked and his expression turned to something more thoughtful and curious. "...You care a lot about Ray, don't you?"

"Well, yes, I do." Nate answered, though he wasn't sure what that had to do with anything. A strange look came over Sydney's face.

"...You know, this could actually work." Sydney smiled slightly. Nate didn't know what he was talking about, but if it meant that the prince would tell him where to find his friend, then he wasn't sure he needed to know what he was talking about. Sydney opened his mouth to say more when the door to the room opened and a young, dark skinned woman let herself into the room.

"Prince Sydney." She bowed gracefully to him before turning to Nate. "Lord Nathaniel, there are some visitors here, and they are very insistent that they speak to you."

"Thank you, Amaya." Nate said to the woman. She was one of his closest friends and confidants. Amaya was one of the few people who was technically a lower rank than him, but spoke to him as an equal. She was a daring and strong young woman, and that was exactly why he respected and liked her.

"These aren't your regular guests, Nate." Amaya warned in a quiet voice. "You need to be cautious with them."

Nate frowned. "Who are they?" Amaya wouldn't let anybody in if she thought that they were too dangerous.

"An ogre who calls himself Mick, and his companion, the rat person, Axel." Amaya said. Sydney made a slight noise of distress at her words, and Nate felt his chest twist up anxiously. He remembered that rat person, Axel, who had trespassed in his home just a few days before and caused nothing but trouble. But what would and ogre and a rodent be traveling together for?

And what would they want with him?

Nate figured there was only one way to find out. "Bring them in." Nate told Amaya. "Along with a couple of guards, just in case." Something told him that they would need them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More character choice explanations! Yes, as you can see, Axel is Donkey and Nate is Lord Farquaad. I chose Axel because, I admit, I've read some Axel/Mick stories (This will not be one of them) and I really like the idea of those two playing off of each other. And I made him a rat because, well, in Legends of Tomorrow Mick has a pet rat named Axel, and that's my logic. Simple enough.
> 
> Now, Lord Farquaad was actually the second hardest character to decide on (Dragon was the hardest) but I finally decided on Nate for two reasons. One, he already has that connection with Ray. The second reason is actually a very simple one...I just don't like Nate as a character, thus, he's my villain. I know, I'm being petty, but why would I like the character who stole both Amaya and Ray from Mick. And he thought that Mick had brain damage. I am sorry, but that is not okay. Especially since Nate doesn't seem to know Mick that much at all, and he's only making fun of him because everybody else is doing it and he wants to fit in. That's just...it's not okay!
> 
> Ranting aside, I shall try my very hardest to not let how I dislike Nate show through in the story. I'm still going to try to write him in character, and as much as I don't like him, I know that he's not a bad guy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically a chapter to get to know the twisted little beauty that is Axel Walker. I can't believe he was only in a single episode of The Flash. So, here's a little refresher/introduction for all you people out there who only watch Legends of Tomorrow and not the other Arrowverse shows (please tell me I'm not the only one. I stopped enjoying the Flash in the middle of last season and haven't even tried to continue with it into this new season, which is a shame, because Flash has always been one of my favorite DC heroes. And I only watch Arrow or Supergirl if it's a crossover episode and absolutely required to understand what's going on.)

Axel bounced anxiously on the balls of his feet. He had a lot of untapped energy within him, and he really wanted to run out there and raise some hell. It would only be too easy to run into the nearby village and raid their winter storage. He would allow himself to be seen, but would be too fast to get caught. That way he would have some food to munch on, which was always a good perk. What would be hilarious though was that if he let the humans know that he had been in their food storage, they would be too concerned about plague to even dare touch the food.

The humans would have to start their storage over from scratch, and it was too far into the season to do that. By the time winter arrived the humans of the village would have nowhere near enough food to feed them all during the cold months. Many humans of the village would end up starving to death just because of their unreasonable fear, and Axel wouldn't feel the least bit guilty about it.

The young rat-person believed that if humans were stupid enough to think that all rats and rat-people carried disease in their wake, then they deserved to starve to death.

It was a tempting thought, but Axel had to refrain from doing just that. The nearest village was only about a league away from Lord Nathaniel's manor, and Axel was in enough trouble as it was there. It was risky just to come back to the general area so soon. If he caused just the smallest bit of trouble he would be in huge trouble.

Besides, Axel was here for a reason. He hadn't returned to the area to cause more trouble, he had returned to lead the ogre, Mick, to Lord Nathaniel. Mick had already explained what he wanted with the lord, and even though Axel thought that it was a stupid plan that was just asking to fail, he went along with it because he and the ogre had made a deal. Axel would lead him to Lord Nathaniel, and Mick would watch his back. Axel had never had an ogre around to protect him from humans before. It was exciting, and it made him feel powerful.

What Axel hadn't told Mick though was that he had another reason for returning to the manor. When Axel had been there before he had caught a glimpse of a woman whose eyes looked different from other humans. She didn't look at him with disgust like most other creatures did. She just saw him.

Axel didn't know exactly what was so different about her, and he was intrigued. Not enough to return there without a reason, but since he was taking Mick to the manor anyways, he figured he might as well take the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity.

It would have to wait a little bit though.

Axel and Mick had walked all day, and they were almost to their destination. It was the ogre who suggested that since they were close enough to the manor, that they stop and wait until nightfall so they could move under the cover of darkness. They weren't there for malicious reasons, but humans were quick to assume the worst whenever creatures were involved. Even though Axel knew that they could probably take down any human that came their way, this area of the kingdom was more populated than others, and there were a lot more humans around. As much as Axel hated to admit it, even he knew that it would be better to be safe than sorry.

So they waited.

Axel was not a patient creature though. At all times he had a nervous and excited energy inside of him, and he needed to let it out in one way or another. Usually he did this by running around and causing some trouble, but since he couldn't do that Axel settled for just running his mouth.

"Why don't we just get out of here for a bit?" Axel asked nervously, not because he was afraid of Mick, but because he always got anxious when he wasn't doing anything. "We can go to the village real quick and...I don't know, do something. My master taught me how to get in and out of places without being detected, and I can-"

"Master?" Mick raised an eyebrow at him. "What, were you somebody's pet?"

Axel frowned slightly. "...I wasn't really a pet."

"A slave?" Mick asked.

"I…" Axel wasn't exactly sure what to say. Did he even want to say anything at all? "It's complicated."

Mick didn't ask further, and Axel was glad for it because he didn't like talking about it. The thing was, he didn't know exactly what the relationship between him and his master had been. His master used to say that he was Axel's father, but even though the rat-person knew a lot of things, he knew that that hadn't been true.

His master had found him as a child, unloved and unwanted. Axel had been terrified when he had first seen him, because he looked like a man and humans had been the ones who had completely destroyed his mischief, killed the only family he had ever had. The man hadn't hurt him though. Axel still wasn't sure what had been going through the man's head that night, but for one reason or another he had taken Axel in.

Maybe his master thought that he was a good father figure, but neither Axel or Billy Hong, a young boy who was also under the master's 'care' believed that he would be a very good father figure to anybody. The man, though sometimes Axel wondered if he was at least part imp, provided them with food, shelter, and advice, just like a father would, but he had a very twisted way of doing these things.

More often than not Axel and Billy were forced to stay in a dark cellar and were rarely let out. Billy had spent his whole life with the master, so he didn't mind so much because it was all he knew. Axel though was part animal. He needed to get chances to run around and be free. Without such opportunities, Axel could feel himself going mad in the darkness of the cellar.

The master always made sure that the two boys were well fed…when they behaved. Every three days Axel's master would bring him a - and Axel shuddered even thinking about it - rat to eat. If the boy refused to eat it then he was denied food for the next three days, until his master came back with another rat.

The man always said that he did this because Axel was a human, and he had dominance over animals, so he needed to act like it.

Axel's master had always given him good advice that he had been using basically every day, but it all revolved around how to properly terrorize humans. Axel's master would always tell him that humans were savage, irrational creatures, and Axel, as an animal, needed to be able to show the humans that he was not somebody to be messed with.

Axel had always been confused around his master. Sometimes the man said he was a human, sometimes he said he was an animal. He just told Axel whatever was convenient for him to hear at the time.

Axel hadn't been his master's pet. He hadn't been his slave. He definitely hadn't been his son. No what Axel had actually been to that man was something much worse than all of those things.

Axel had been his plaything, and his master was the type of person to push his toys to the brink, just so he could see how much they could take before they broke.

Axel had actually been close to breaking and losing his sanity entirely when he had escaped, with the help of Billy. The other boy had seen just how badly Axel was doing, and half because he was worried about him, and half because Billy was jealous of the attention that Axel received, he helped him to escape.

Now Axel lived on the run. Too afraid that his master might catch up to him to stay in one place for long. He was constantly terrified that the day might come that his master found him and brought him back to that prison of insanity. At the same time though, Axel was afraid that his master would never find him because he had never bothered looking. That Axel had never meant enough to him for him to even care.

Axel didn't want to go back to that place, but he didn't want to be unwanted either.

"Hey, kid." Axel blinked and got brought back to reality by Mick, who looked slightly annoyed, though mostly disinterested. Though, as far as Axel could tell, this was Mick's default facial expression, so it may not have been because of him at all. "The sun's gone down. We're we're good to go."

"Really?" Axel looked around and saw that, indeed, it was getting dark. "Huh." It wasn't very often that Axel was so out of it that he wasn't even the least bit aware of his surroundings. "How long was I…?"

"About an hour." Mick said in that usual low growl of his. "I don't know what just happened with you, but it kept you quiet, so I don't really care."

"Fair enough." Axel stretched. He always got sore after standing in one place for too long. "Let's go. I'm tired of waiting." He needed to do something. Sure, walking for nearly an hour to get to Lord Nathaniel's manor wasn't exactly Axel's idea of fun, but at least he wasn't just sitting around anymore. Besides, the bit that came after the walking was well worth it. After arriving at the manor the next thing to do was get inside.

And rats just happened to be very good at finding their ways in and out of places.

Axel and Mick snuck around to the back of the manor, and waited for a moment when no guards were around. The second that Axel saw the latest patrolling guard round the corner, walking away from them, he made his move. Axel dashed over to the wall, found a certain stone on the wall, directly underneath the fifth window and three stones up, grabbed it and pulled it out with ease to reveal a hidden passage. It was large enough for a fullsize man, or even an ogre like Mick, to fit through.

Mick stared at the hole, impressed. "How long has this been here?"

"Oh, a long time." Axel said. "My master created tunnels like these in all the noble's castles and manors, in case he decided to have some fun with them.

"...Your master sounds like a piece of work." Mick muttered. Axel nodded, because he full heartedly agreed. He hadn't brought Mick here to talk about his old master though, he brought him here so he could talk to Lord Nathaniel.

Axel climbed into the tunnel, and Mick easily came in right behind him. It wasn't a complicated tunnel, there was just a single path. If Axel's master hadn't specifically made the tunnels to sneak into a noble's place of living and cause some trouble, it would have been a labyrinth that had no true exit. Just booby trapped dead ends.

Thankfully that wasn't the case, and after just a few minutes of crawling through the tunnel they found their way out into an old storage room that was barely used. Axel, who had used this exact path just a few days ago to cause some mischief, knew exactly where they were and where they needed to go.

"Come on." Axel scurried out into the hallway. He was careful to avoid anybody that might catch them, because a fight wasn't what they had comere here for. A couple of times Axel had to double back and find them a different route, because there were guards or servants walking around the hallways. Because of the backtracking the two of them got a little lost, but Axel was able to find where they were again and a little while later the two of them found themselves in the great hall.

This had been where Lord Nathaniel had been last time Axel had come by, but he wasn't here now. Axel felt a small surge of panic build up in his chest. Where else could the lord be? Axel didn't have the smallest idea of where to look. There was no way that they would be able to search the whole manor without getting caught, and Axel didn't think that Mick would appreciate being dragged all this way for nothing.

Axel couldn't believe that this room was empty. He was supposed to know what he was doing. He needed to know what he was doing, or else everything fell to pieces. Axel liked chaos, but only if it was chaos that he controlled. Unwilling to accept that the lord wasn't anywhere in the room, Axel began searching the whole place for the guy. Under the table, on the chairs, behind the tapestries.

Axel had just walked past the door out of the room for the fifth time when he felt a tugging on his tail. It wasn't too harsh or powerful enough to truly hurt, but it was enough to pull him back, right into the arms of the one who had grabbed him. Axel could feel the breasts against his back, so it was definitely a female. As lovely as it sounded to be held in the arms of a woman, this one had a dagger against his throat, so Axel was pretty sure that she wasn't here for a friendly chat.

"You have five seconds to tell me who you are and what you're doing here before I slit your throat." The woman warned in a low voice, and Axel knew better than to not take her threat seriously. But just because he knew that she wouldn't hesitate to do what she had threatened did not mean that he was scared.

"What, have you guys forgotten me already?" Axel asked in a mock hurt tone. "It's only been a few days."

He felt the woman's strong grip on him loosen slightly. "...You're not the rat boy from earlier, are you?"

Axel grinned, he was always proud to get recognition. "The one and only. I'm at a bit of a disadvantage though, you know who I am, but I don't know who you are."

The woman completely let go of him, tail and all, and he could finally turn to face the woman who had grabbed him. He had been expecting someone random who he wouldn't recognize at all, but he was surprised to see that he actually recognized her.

"Oh, hey, I know you." Axel smiled.

The woman looked confused. "You do?" She asked.

"Yeah, you're the only one who didn't look at me like I'm some monster or abomination." Most people looked at him like he was just some unnatural creature, so of course Axel remembered every time someone didn't.

The woman frowned slightly. "That's because you're not a monster. You have the spirit of an animal inside you, but you're still a human. Why would I treat you like you were something else?"

Axel shrugged. "Because most people do." The woman's frown deepened at his words.

"Well, I'm not most people." The woman lowered her dagger, though she didn't loosen her grip on it. "My name's Amaya. I am Lord Nathaniel's counselor and protector. Now, tell me what your business here is, and why a rat would be travelling with an ogre." She didn't call him a rat the same way that most people did. She said it as a title, not an insult.

"The rodent just brought me here. I'm the one that has a bone to pick with Lord Nathaniel." Mick said, as he finally decided to stop sitting back to watch Amaya and Axel.

Amaya narrowed her eyes at Mick and pointed her dagger at him. "If you intend on hurting him…"

"If I wanted to do him harm, I already would have." Mick said bluntly, and both Amaya and Axel knew that his words were true. "I'm just here to get my land back."

"Your land?" Amaya asked.

"Yeah, my fire swamp." Mick growled. "The place where he decided to dump a bunch of magical freaks. Because he didn't want them around anymore."

Axel chuckled at Amaya's shocked expression. "I guess your lord isn't as noble as his position suggests he should be."

Whatever shock Amaya was feeling, she quickly covered it up again. "So, you're simply here to reclaim your home?" Amaya sounded a bit sympathetic, and for the first time Axel began to think that maybe Mick's little mission wasn't such a lost cause after all. "Lord Nathaniel is in his study. If you would follow me, I will take you there."

Mick looked fine with the idea, or, at least, Axel thought so. It was really hard to interpret emotions on an ogre who constantly looked angry.

Amaya led Mick and Axel out of the great hall and through the manor. They were given some strange looks by the people they passed, but nobody caused them any trouble, probably because they were with Amaya. She led them up some staircases before she stopped in front of a door. There were two guards standing in front of it, but if it weren't for them Axel would have never thought that this door led to anywhere important.

"You two wait out here." Amaya ordered before she went in and closed the door behind her. Axel turned towards Mick, who looked more annoyed than ever. The big guy probably just wanted to get this meeting over with so he could go home. A minute later Amaya came out. She whispered a few words to the guards, who nodded and entered into the room that she had just left. Amaya then turned to Mick and Axel.

"You can see him now." Amaya said.

"Finally." Mick growled as he stormed into the room. Axel made to follow him, but Amaya grabbed his arm and held him back.

"Wait," She said. "I want you to tell me about what's happening to the creatures."

Axel was taken aback. "You don't know?" The whole kingdom knew about what was happening to the magical creatures. How could somebody who worked for the one who had started this whole mess not know about what was going on?

"I know that Nate is trying to keep the kingdom safe from wayward magic." Amaya said. "I don't know the details, because I never asked. I didn't feel like I would need to know."

"And now you do?" Axel raised an eyebrow at her.

Amaya nodded, a serious look in her eyes. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I just sat by and let creatures be mistreated."

Axel snorted. "You really don't know anything about what is going on, do you?"

A cold, hard look came to Amaya's eyes. "What happened?"

"A lot." Axel said. "You know the creatures that were sent to Mick's fire swamp? Most of them are nature spirits. There are animal people there, and even an ice dragon."

"What?" Amaya looked panicked by this news. "Those creatures can't survive in a hot climate like a fire swamp."

"Yeah, why do you think they were sent there?" Axel narrowed his eyes at her. He had finally met a person who actually gave a damn about non-humans, and she had been too trusting and blind to see the abuse that was going on right under her nose. "And that's barely scratching the surface. People are blackmailing us, torturing us, threatening our families to make sure we do what they want, and they're even being hypocrites and using dark magic to prevent us from reaching ours." Of course, Axel didn't have magic, but he was speaking for all the creatures at this moment.

Amaya's eyes saddened. "Are things really that bad?"

"They are worse." Axel growled. He didn't understand why she couldn't see the truth. "Things have gotten so bad that a lot of animal people, creatures like me, are undergoing treatment so they can blend in with society better." Axel didn't specifically mention how they would have someone painfully remove their tails, ears, wings, claws, and any other physical animal traits, just so they wouldn't be hunted by humans. The fact that Amaya looked disgusted and a little sick to her stomach told Axel that understood what he meant.

"That's not right." Amaya said. "This needs to stop."

"You're tellin' me." Axel leaned against the wall. He didn't understand why Amaya was so sympathetic towards creatures. Not that he was complaining or anything, he just didn't get it. Whether he understood it or not, a small part of Axel wondered if maybe things would change. Amaya seemed to be close to Lord Nathaniel, and if she really cared about magical creatures like Axel thought she did, then maybe she could talk him out of this mess before things got worse.

Axel was careful to not let his hopes get too high though. Hoping only ended up making things hurt worse in the end. Besides, what could one person do against a whole kingdom that was thriving on hate and fear?

Absolutely nothing.


	5. Chapter 5

Mick stormed into the study where Lord Nathaniel was and he was greeted by a couple of guards who were pointing their weapons at him. It was an unpleasant welcome, but not a surprising one. Mick just decided to ignore them. If the guards decided to try anything, then he would easily be able to overpower them. Until that happened though, Mick didn't see the harm in letting them believe that they were the ones in charge.

There were two other guys in the room, both of them looked a thousands times better off than any other human that Mick had come across over the years, so he guessed that they were both nobles. He just didn't know which one was the lord he was looking for.

"Ogre," One of the men, a real pretty boy, said with an undertone of disgust and slight fear. "I'm told you wanted to speak with me?" So this must be Lord Nathaniel. That was good to know.

"Yeah, about my home." Mick glared at the lord. "You've been sending creatures and freaks to my fire swamp, and I want them gone."

Lord Nathaniel eyed Mick carefully. "Technically, the nearby fire swamp is located in the Western Forest, which is actually land that I own."

"I don't care if you own the whole damn kingdom." Mick growled. "That swamp is mine and I want it back."

"What will you do if I don't do as you ask?" Lord Nathaniel asked. "Your kind has been left alone up to this point." Only because nobody was stupid enough to go up against an ogre. Dragons, fairies, witches, and all the other creatures that were famous for being the most dangerous relied heavily on magic. Block their magic and they're powerless. The same couldn't be done for ogres. "That can change easily."

"I'm not asking all that much." Mick said irritably. "I just want the freaks out of my home, same as you do." Mick didn't care what happened to the creatures, just as long as it didn't have anything to do with him.

The other noble in the room, who had been watching Mick curiously this whole time, finally spoke up. "Just how much do you want your swamp back?"

"I came all the way here to talk to him for it." Mick nodded towards Lord Nathaniel.

"Would you be willing to go even further?" The noble raised his eyebrows at him. Mick got the feeling that they were going to test him.

"If it'll get me my home back, and get you humans to leave me alone, I'll go as far as I need to." Mick said. The noble's eyes brightened. He must've said something right.

"I may have a proposition for you." The noble said. "I'll have Nathaniel give you your swamp, complete with the deed to the land, if you do something for us first."

"...What?" Mick asked cautiously.

"Yeah, what?" Lord Nathaniel looked even more confused than Mick was. Whoever this noble guy was and whatever plan he had in mind, he hadn't discussed it with the lord first.

"One of the princes of this land is being kept in a place on the outskirts of the kingdom." The noble said. "If you can find him and bring him back here, we will give you what you want."

"Sydney, what are you doing?" Lord Nathaniel hissed. "You would trust this...this monster with Ray's safety?"

"It's too dangerous for you to go, Nathaniel." Sydney said. "And my brother has been gone for long enough." So this Sydney guy (Mick was fairly certain he was a prince. After all, he was brothers with a prince) thought that it was a good idea to sent Mick just because he was more expendable than Lord Nathaniel was.

"How do you know he won't hurt Ray?" Lord Nathaniel asked, and it was a fair question.

"What do you propose we do?" Prince Sydney asked in return. "Your guards and knights are too busy dealing with the magical creatures to go in his place."

"...I would feel better if we would at least send that rodent with him." Lord Nathaniel said. "If we offer the rat full immunity, on the condition that it doesn't cause trouble at my home anymore, then it will keep the ogre in line."

Did this lord honestly believe that Axel could keep Mick, or anybody, in line?

"That sounds fair." Prince Sydney turned back to Mick. "Ogre, do you agree with these terms?"

"...So I just gotta go with Axel, get this prince, bring him back here, and you'll give me my swamp back?" It sounded like a pain in the butt. If it got him his home back though, Mick knew that it was worth it. "I can do that."

"And the prince must remain unharmed, or else the deal is off." Lord Nathaniel added, though it wasn't necessary. Mick had gathered that much on his own. Lord Nathaniel looked towards the door. "Amaya!"

The door opened and the dark skinned woman who had brought Mick and Axel to the room bowed respectably towards the nobels. "Yes, my lord?" Mick could see Axel peeking into the room behind her.

"We've decided to grant the ogre's request if he goes on a quest for us first." Lord Nathaniel gestured between him and Sydney. "Would you tell the rat that if he keeps the ogre on task then he'll be pardoned of all crimes up to this point?"

"You know, the rat can hear you just fine." Axel said, his ears twitching irritably. "Why don't you ask me yourself?" It was because Lord Nathaniel, and most humans, assumed that because they weren't humans themselves meant that they were below them and not even worth acknowledging directly. It was why people insisted on calling Axel 'the rat', and Mick 'ogre' instead of using their given names.

It was demeaning, but it was how the world worked.

"Do you want the pardon or not?" Lord Nathaniel asked shortly.

"Course I do." Axel shrugged. "I'm just sayin'-"

"Save your breath, kid." Mick walked out of the room and grabbed Axel's tail to pull him out behind him. "We've got work to do." Mick just wanted to get this little adventure out of the way so that he could get his normal life back. The sooner they got started, the sooner they could finish.

"So, what are we doing anyways?" Axel asked as Mick dragged him out of the castle.

"Saving some princely dumbass in distress." Everybody in the kingdom had heard that the youngest prince had been missing for twenty odd years. Mick thought that it was a pretty safe assumption that he needed saving.

"Sounds simple enough." Axel said. "Got any ideas of where he is?"

"A few." Mick grunted. Prince Sydney said that his brother was somewhere on the outskirts of the kingdom. There were a bunch of myths and stories about the dangers that lay just outside the kingdom. There was a dragon's nest just a few leagues east of the kingdom's borders. A vast wasteland lay to the south. There was an ancient neighboring kingdom to the west. What Mick was really interested in though was what was to the north. For the past twenty years there have been reports of people going missing when they wander up north. The prince had been missing for twenty years. Mick thought that it was a pretty safe place to start.

Mick couldn't really care less about what would make a prince child disappear without a word. He wasn't exactly interested in being anybody's knight in shining armor, he just wanted his home back. Still, even Mick couldn't help but wonder just what kind of person this missing prince was.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

As one can imagine, spending twenty years in a far off tower that is all but isolated from the rest of the world can get lonely. Ray would have likely been driven mad from the solitude, except he wasn't there on his own. There was another young boy there, one whose job was to keep Ray at the tower and prevent anybody who wasn't 'the one' from entering. In a way, this boy was the keeper of Ray's prison, but Ray still went out of his way to befriend the boy, because there was only so much solitude two children could handle. The boy was reluctant to get close to him, but Ray had figured out a way to draw the boy out before they had even been at the tower for a month.

Eight year old Ray lay across his bed, with one of his many, many fairy tale stories right in front of him. He didn't think he would ever get tired of reading these stories, and he wasn't the only one that liked them either.

"Once upon a time-" Ray trailed off when he heard the quiet creaking of his bedroom door being opened. Ray smiled and sat up. He turned towards the door to see two bespectacled eyes looking back at him. The second they made eye contact the boy behind the door made a noise of alarm and drew back.

"Wait!" Ray felt himself start to panic. He was tired of being alone all the time. "Please." To Ray's pleasure he heard the boy outside his window stop in his tracks. He was willing to listen to him. "I hear you out there every day when I read my fairy tales. Did you want to come in and read them with me?"

There was a tense, long pause. A moment later though the door was slowly pushed open and a small boy who was about two years younger than Ray was shuffled slowly inside. The boy wore glasses, and he had dark, untidy auburn hair that kept on falling over his eyes. He also wore a dark green hood that hung down over his face. All in all, he just looked like somebody who would rather not be noticed.

Ray knew that the boy must be feeling a little shy and hesitant around people, but he also knew that they were both beginning to get lonely being here by themselves. So why couldn't they just keep each other company.

Ray scooted over to make room on his bed and gestured for the boy to come and join him. "My name's Ray." He grinned happily, even though he knew that the boy was likely already aware of who he was. Ray held out a hand. "What's yours?"

The boy paused and looked at Ray's hand critically for a moment before he held out his own hand and shook Ray's. "Hartley." The boy said in a quiet but firm voice. Hartley let go of Ray's hand quickly, almost as though it had burned him.

"That's a cool name." Ray grinned, not at all offended that Hartley didn't want to touch him for any longer than necessary. Ray was about to ask Hartley more about himself. What did he like to do? What was he doing there. What was his favorite fairy tale? Before Ray could say anything though, Hartley spoke up.

"What're we reading?" Hartley asked curiously, though also slightly impatiently. He wasn't there for a chat, he was there for a story. Ray could respect that.

"Rapunzel." Ray showed Hartley the book. The other boy pouted slightly, clearly not entirely pleased with Ray's selection, but he nodded. Taking that as a sign that he should continue, Ray opened the book and began to read it again from the beginning.

"Once upon a time-"

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Ray tried his very best to stay optimistic and cheerful all the time, but sometimes even he couldn't help but become discouraged with the thought that his curse would never be broken. It didn't happen very often, but when despair hit Ray, it hit him bad. It usually only happened on the anniversary of them being there, when another year had come and gone with neither of them having any idea when it would be over. Ray's mood usually only lasted for a day or two, and then he would go back to being his normal, annoyingly cheerful self.

It had been two weeks since their 'we've-been-here-for-ten-years' anniversary, and Ray's mood just seemed to be getting worse and worse Not that Hartley could blame him. Ray was an adult now, and he had spent more of his live locked in a small tower than not. It was a depressing thought.

Still, it was disheartening to see somebody who was normally so optimistic be so downtrodden...and it was getting old.

Hartley knocked on the door to Ray's bedroom and then let himself in when he wasn't given a response. When he first entered the room his eyes immediately went to Ray's form on the bed. He was curled up, and Hartley would have believed that he was asleep if it weren't for the fact that Ray never slept during the day. He wouldn't waste his time as a human like that.

He was just moping.

Hartley sighed and reached for the flute that he kept at his belt. It had been gifted to him by his fairy godmother (most children of noble birth had one) when he was a small child and it had been discovered that he had been born deaf. She had given him the magical flute so that he could still have a voice (Hartley had never been able to figure out how she had thought he would have been able to do that, considering he wouldn't have been able to hear the notes he was playing, or even been able to tell that he was playing any notes at all instead of just blowing).

Hartley hadn't exactly been using the flute the way that his fairy godmother had probably intended. Shortly after he had received the flute his parents had taken him to see some enchantress to 'fix' his ears. After all, they were nobles. They couldn't exactly tarnish their reputation by having a less than perfect son.

The enchantress had granted Hartley with the ability to hear, but it had come at a cost, as most magic does. Hartley didn't understand why, or whose idea it was. He didn't know whether this was just all a part of the enchantresses sick plan, or if the royal family had gotten word of what Hartley's parents had done and had demanded there be some sort of punishment, since nobles couldn't exactly be associating with enchantresses and mages. Whatever the case, Until the royal family (Ray's parents...Ray himself couldn't do it, otherwise Hartley would have been let go years ago) was satisfied with his services, Hartley had to do whatever they said.

And, seeing as they had ordered him to keep Ray locked up and alive, Hartley had no way of knowing when he would ever be freed from his servitude. He was just as much a prisoner here as Ray was, except that Hartley didn't have any guarantee of a happily ever after.

Ray would be freed from his curse with true love's kiss, and even though Hartley wasn't exactly the most optimistic person in the world, he didn't doubt that Ray would find his true love one day. He was too sweet and nice a guy to not find love. Maybe they didn't know when it would happen, but Ray would meet and marry his true love.

And while Hartley certainly hoped to find a happily ever after, he wasn't betting on it. He wasn't a prince. He wasn't a hero. He wasn't as charming or happy as Ray was. Hartley was just Hartley. He was a sarcastic, bitter, servant who had been working most of his life to keep the nice, young prince locked up in a tower. At best, Hartley was a nobody, and at worst, he was one of the bad guys.

People like him didn't get happily ever afters. That was one thing that all the fairy tales and stories could agree on. Hartley wasn't normally as quick to accept every rule in a fairy tale as a law in real life as Ray was, but after hearing so many stories that were all so different and yet could all agree on that, it was a little difficult to not believe that there was some truth in it.

Hartley would love to be proven wrong, but he wasn't about to get his hopes up. It would just hurt more in the long run. Just look at where getting one's hopes up had landed Ray.

"Go away, Hartley." Ray groaned when he heard the door open.

"Don't you think this has gone on for long enough?" Hartley's tone was flat, to show that he was not the least bit amused with Ray's moping.

"...No." Ray said defensively, and even though his back was to him, Hartley could practically see his pout.

Hartley sighed and made his way to the bed. He shoved Ray over and slid onto the bed next to him. The second that Hartley had gotten himself comfortable, Ray slid closer to him and laid his head against his shoulder. He was definitely a cuddler when he got upset...and when he was happy...Ray was just a cuddler in general. Hartley wasn't exactly a fan of physical contact, but he knew that Ray thrived on physical comfort. Hartley could bare through some discomfort if it would get Ray to stop being moody.

"Come on, Ray, you know better than anybody that there's always a bunch of useless filler between 'once upon a time' and 'happily ever after'." Hartley said as he held onto his flute and began to fiddle with it, as he often did when he was feelings nervous or upset.

"Hmm" Ray just sat up more and changed their positions so that Hartley was the one who was leaning against his shoulder. Because Ray was taller than Hartley was, it made their positions feel more natural, but it also made Hartley feel more uncomfortable. Especially since he was well aware of what Ray was prone to doing whenever they found themselves in this position.

"It's just frustrating." Ray said quietly as he gently began to brush his fingers through Hartley's hair. Hartley cringed slightly at the feeling, it was too intimate for his liking, but he resigned himself to his fate. Besides, he knew that once he got used to it that it would actually begin feeling kinda nice...kinda.

"Nobody ever said that curses would be easy." Hartley said. "And can you imagine how awkward it would be to be saved by your knight in shining armor while you were still a child?"

Ray let out a weak laugh. "I think that would be a little more creepy than charming."

"Exactly." Hartley nodded, and then cringed when he felt Ray's pull his hair ever so slightly. "Just...don't stress so much about it. Your prince charming is bound to come save you eventually."

"Uh huh." Ray said awkwardly, though also like he was trying to keep himself from laughing. "You're really feeling out of your comfort zone with this, aren't you?"

Hartley let out a shaky breath that was half nerves and half relief. "You have no idea." Though, thinking about it, Ray had more than an idea just how uncomfortable this touchy feely, optimistic stuff made Hartley feel. Two people didn't live with each other for ten years without getting to know each other fairly well.

"You know, I'm not the only one who's going to find his knight in shining armor someday." Ray said as he began to actually braid Hartley's unruly hair.

Hartley groaned. "Ray, not this again."

"No, I am doing this again." Ray said. "We agreed that we would both find somebody."

"Yeah," Hartley frowned. "But that was eight years ago."

"That doesn't matter." Ray said as he finished the braid and slung his arm over Hartley's shoulders to draw him in for a hug. As much as Ray understood how much Hartley didn't like physical contact, he didn't really understand it. At least, not enough to respect his boundaries on most days. "You can go ahead and think that it doesn't mean anything, but my ten year old self made a promise, and I don't intend to break it."

"Yeah, I know." Hartley muttered. And though it went unsaid, Hartley understood that Ray's promise that they would both find their 'true love' also meant that they would always be there for each other, at least until they did find their happily ever afters. Hartley was somewhat annoyed by the promise, though he was also reluctantly relieved because of it. If it weren't for Ray's promise, Hartley would be worried that his prince friend would have already up and left by now.

Ray wasn't just waiting around because he felt like being a lazy damsel in distress, he really couldn't leave...well, he could, but not without there being serious consequences.

Eight years before Ray had actually tried to leave his prison. The second that Ray took a step out of the tower something had happened that neither boy had expected. Hartley's ears had suddenly began to hurt so badly that he couldn't think. He couldn't move. It felt like he couldn't even breath. It was as though pain was the only thing in the world at that point, as was all there ever would be.

It was...horrible.

When Ray had seen Hartley in such pain he had immediately gone back for him. Once Ray was back within the walls of the tower, the pain in Hartley's ears had disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Maybe they just jumped to conclusions, but even at that young age Hartley and Ray were very smart, and they both figured that, for whatever reason, when the enchantress had granted Hartley with hearing, she had cursed him as well. Hartley's job was to keep Ray safe until he was saved by his true love. If he let Ray leave on his own, then his ears would cause him agonizing pain, and Hartley had little doubt that the pain would end up killing him if it went on for too long.

Ray was far too nice a guy to ever let that happen, so he stayed.

"I still think you should leave this place." Hartley muttered. Not that he wanted Ray to leave, but it was the logical thing to do. One was much more likely to run into their true love if they went out and actually looked for them.

"And I still know that that's not going to happen." Ray said. "I've waited ten years, I can wait a little more."

Well, at least he wasn't moping anymore.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Ten years later a twenty eight year old Ray looked through the books that he kept on his bookshelf. There were a number of different fairy tales and legends there, but the one bookcase he had in his bedroom only held a small number of his total books. These were just some of his and Hartley's favorites. The rest they kept in their library.

Ray spent a good amount of time in the library, and so did Hartley. They didn't just read though, even they would get bored with reading after so many years. Both of them also tinkered with inventing and engineering, though there was only so much that they could do with what little resources they had. And, when they got incredibly bored, they would just talk.

Ray had spent the entire day in the library, but the late afternoon sun was beginning to set over the horizon. His day was almost over. Ray knew that there were people like Hartley who prefered to stay up into the late hours of the night, but he wasn't one of those people. Ray woke up with the sun, and he ended his day when it set as well. It just felt more balanced and natural that way, and only being awake during day hours made it much easier to cope with his...situation.

Even though Ray was an adult, he still enjoyed reading a story before bed. Really, he didn't think there was any better way to begin or end a day than to read a story about hope and how good always conquers over bad. Hartley was always rolling his eyes at Ray's little tradition, but every night, without fail, he joined him in on it anyways.

Right on schedule, Ray heard a knock on his door before Hartley just opened it himself. It had taken Ray months to convince Hartley to just knock on a door before he entered, even if Hartley didn't understand the point to it when they were the only ones there. Hartley still let himself in, but at least he was knocking first, and Ray figured that it was a step in the right direction.

"Hey, Hart." Ray grinned, even though Hartley sent him an irritated look at the nickname. "I haven't seen you around all day. What've you been doing."

Hartley shook his head and just headed towards Ray's bed where he went ahead and made himself comfortable. "You wouldn't want to know.

"No, really, I would." Ray's grin didn't falter as Hartley stared at him critically. Ray always enjoyed hearing about Hartley's day. The younger man was just so much better at coming up with new things to do every day.

Hartley was quiet for a moment as he tried to decide whether to tell Ray what he had been up to, but he ultimately shrugged and grabbed his flute. "Some rodents found their way into the tower and I was practicing on them."

"...Oh." Ray's smile dimmed slightly. Hartley had the ability to influence and manipulate creatures when he played his flute, and he had gotten so good at it that he could all but force anything and anybody to do whatever the heck he wanted them to do. It was a little terrifying, and Ray never really liked to hear about Hartley's mind controlling exploits.

"I told you that you wouldn't want to know." Hartley said, not even the least bit ashamed. "So, are we going to do this or not? You know as well as I do that we don't have very much time."

"Right." Ray turned back to the bookcase and grabbed a large, worn out book that was a volume of a number of different fairy tales. He then joined Hartley on the bed, though he made sure to leave him some room. Hartley was rather sensitive when it came to personal space.

"What are we doing today?" Hartley asked before he played an experimental note on his flute to make sure it was in tune (it was. Ray didn't think it was possible for Hartley's flute to be out of tune).

"Snow White." Ray said as he turned to the proper page.

"Sticking to what you know?" Hartley sighed with annoyance. "One of these days I really wish you would give me a challenge."

"Maybe tomorrow." Ray promised. "Besides, you're really good at Snow White."

Hartley still looked annoyed, but Ray was fairly certain that he was also secretly very pleased. Flattery did wonders for Hartley.

"Fine." Hartley readied his flute and began playing a haunting, beautiful tune of his own composition. Ray happily listened to him for a few minutes before he began to read the familiar story. He would be more than happy to read the story on it's own, but Hartley's ability to influence one's thoughts when he played his flute made the story come to life. Anything that Hartley envisioned, Ray would see within his own mind's eye. It was absolutely incredible, and it was something that they had been doing for the past five years.

After a while, though, in Ray's opinion, it wasn't nearly long enough, he finished reading the old story. On most days they would read one or two more more stories, or, at the very least, talk a little more. It was beginning to get late though, and they both knew it.

After Hartley finished his song he looked out the window and frowned. "The sun's going down. "He looked at Ray, who pointedly avoided looking towards the window. "You still want a song?"

"Please." Ray nodded. Hartley sighed and got off the bed. He threw his hood over his head and kept his back to Ray. Hartley was always a fantastic flute player, but he did best when he felt either completely relaxed, or completely stressed. And Hartley felt most relaxed when he had his own space and gave off at least the illusion of mystery. Ray didn't entirely understand it, but he didn't question it either. As long as Hartley worked his magic, Ray couldn't care less about the specifics behind his methods.

Hartley played one long, high pitched but absolutely beautiful note, and Ray felt his mind go blank...kinda. It was a strange feeling. When Hartley had first asked him about it, the best way that Ray could think of explaining it was that it was as though his mind had suddenly become a blank canvas, and even though Ray was still the painter, Hartley had become his muse.

Hartley continued to play his flute. Ray knew that he had to be playing an actual song, but he couldn't entirely understand what it was. Ray was completely aware of the music, but not so aware of it that he could differentiate one note from another. It didn't really matter that he couldn't tell what song Hartley was playing though, it still had the same effect on Ray. Within just a matter of seconds, he began to find himself slipping into a trance like state.

The two of them had been doing this for a few years. When Ray was a child he always used to get nightmares that would wake him up in the middle of the night, and he had a very difficult time going back to sleep. Just the simple fact that he was an ogre at night was enough to keep him up after a horrible nightmare.

After Hartley had noticed Ray's problem he helped how he could. After waking from a nightmare Ray would go to find Hartley, and the younger boy would play a soothing melody to scare his nightmares and fears away. After some time Ray proposed a more solid solution to his sleeping problem. He figured that if Hartley could sooth him to sleep, then there was no reason why he couldn't do the same thing but on a larger scale, from the beginning of the night until the sun came up again.

Hartley hadn't been positive that the idea would work, or that he could do such a thing, but he was always eager to accept a challenge so he had agreed to give it a try. It had taken Hartley a few weeks, but he had eventually figured out how to influence Ray's thoughts with his music just enough to put him into a sleep like trance which would be broken by the rising sun.

Ray knew that it probably wasn't healthy for him to avoid his problem night after night, but he didn't know what else to do. He hated it when he became an ogre, and if he had a way to get through the night without even being aware that he was an ogre, why shouldn't he do it?

Day after day though, without fail, as Ray found himself becoming less and less aware of the world his final thought before he completely lost consciousness was always the same.

'Tomorrow will be the day. I just know it.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Hartley is Dragon. He was definitely the hardest character to decide on. At first I struggled with coming up with somebody (other than Leonard) who would work as a dragon, and after not coming up with anything I finally realized that I've changed the species of half the characters, so why not do the same for Dragon? So I decided that instead of trying to figure out how to keep Dragon a dragon, I would instead try to think of somebody who could still have magical tie ins and would be a good match for Axel, and the answer just hit me. Hartley Rathaway, the Pied Piper. I would just keep him as the Pied Piper, like in the fairy tales, and I already ship him with Axel, so it was perfect. Even more perfect, and a very happy coincidence, I remembered that Pied Piper in the original story is tied in with rats, and Axel just so happens to be a rat person.
> 
> As you may have noticed, I took some creative liberties with Hartley's design. I love how he's portrayed in The Flash tv show, but I also really like him from the comics, with his flute and long red hair. So I combined the two. Hartley has a mind controlling flute, but also the ear ringing thing from the show. And the unruly dark auburn hair I thought would be a nice compromise between long and red, and short and brown.


End file.
